Daniel Schorr was a bridge between eras. It is somehow fitting, or ironic — or maybe meaningless — that word of his passing at 93 first flashed around the world on Twitter.

His resume includes intelligence service during World War II, working with Edward R. Murrow at CBS, and six decades spent observing and reporting on cold and hot wars, foreign policy, national politics and presidential scandals of every stripe. He was a certified member in good standing of Richard Nixon’s enemies list and, by all accounts, a darn good journalist – what his peers would have called a “newsman.”

He helped found CNN and, since 1985, provided commentary and analysis on National Public Radio. He helped provide what is all too often missing in today’s news: perspective and a sense of history. NPR has a remembrance of Daniel Schorr here.